Sleeping Savior
by warangel820
Summary: A/U, my own version of sleeping beauty. Princess Kagome is cursed and must be raised in solitude by 3 mikos. Rating for later chapters, KxS
1. Prologue

disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha nor any of the characters, the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi owns them. Now on with the story

Prologue

There once was a Queen who wished with all her might for a child. For many years she had watched her sister be granted with many children and yet she remained barren.

Every night she would venture out to the gardens and sit by the light of the moon at the fountain. There she would beseech the Kami's to grant her wish.

Her plea was not unheard, and impressed with her unwavering devotion the Kami's granted her wish, giving her the daughter that she had longed for.

In view of this joyous event the King declared that he would hold a great celebration in honor of his new daughter. He invited almost his entire kingdom along with all of the neighboring kings and their families.

The greatest guests of all were the three great miko's who would come to grant their blessings upon the infant princess.

The night of the great celebration came quickly. Everything was magnificent, that was a great feast filled with all the great delicacies, music played by the greatest musicians in all of the realms, and entertainment kept the guests jolly through the night.

When the last guest had arrived, everyone gathered in the great hall, gleefully anticipating the giving of gifts to the baby princess.

* * *

When all had gathered, the King rose up from his throne and addressed his quests.

"My Queen and I thank you all for coming to this celebration of the birth of our long awaited Princess. We have longed for a child for many years, and are pleased that the Kami's have at last granted our wish. "

Then turning to a neighboring King who stood beside him, he ushered him forward.

"I am also pleased to announce that as a part of our new alliance my good neighbor, that our children are to be engaged. Their union will guarantee peace and prosperity for all."

The Kings words were met by cheers from all in attendance, his people happy for the prospect of joined nations.

"And now, what you have all been waiting for, may I have the great honor of announcing the great Priestesses Midoriko, Kaede, and Kikyo. They have come to give their blessings to the princess."

With that the King stepped back and allowed the three mikos dressed in their traditional red to come towards the cradle that rested on the dais.

Kikyo the youngest stepped forward first. A miko with great beauty and vainness knew immediately what to give the infant princess. "I bless you with beauty, fairness, and the voice of a nightingale."

Immediately the princess was surrounded by a light pink mist that caressed her and made her petit features become even more precious.

Next was miko Kaede, Kikyo's elder sister she resembled a haggard crone who had an eye patch and leaned heavily upon a cane for support as she made her way to the cradle.

"I bless you with a loving heart that sees the virtues of all and a quick mind that lets none deceive it."

With that the princess was surrounded by a soft blue light that pulsed with a loving melody as it slowly dissipated.

As the last miko, Midoriko came forward to give her blessing; a great green light filled the room, blinding the occupants. When the light had cleared and everyone could see again there was a great shock to see none but the dark miko Tsubaki standing on the dais over the crib.

* * *

Once a Great Priestess, she had begun lusting for power so much that she had resorted to dark practices. Her sisters of the order had tried to stop her, but the dark magic had turned her mad.

She thought that they had become jealous of her power and sought to kill her in order to steal that power. Tsubaki went into a rage and attempted to kill her sisters, but by combining their powers they were able to hold her off and seal away some of her madness. They then threw her from the order of the Great Priestesses, stripping her of her gift of long life and throwing her to the woods.

Tsubaki became desperate and realized that she would have to quickly find a way to lengthen her life, for if she did not act soon she would quickly age to her actual age.

It was a passing minor youkai that solved her dilemma.

Tsubaki felt his aura and realized that her sisters had not had enough power to completely strip her of her powers. She quickly absorbed the youkai and felt the rise of her powers. She knew that this would also extend her life but if she wished to again achieve her practical immortality she would need to absorb beings with much more power.

It was then that she began again building up her dark powers, determined to become the most powerful.

Now Tsubaki was also a very vain woman, she saw herself above others. That the King had invited her former sisters who she saw as below herself and not she to the great celebration was a great insult to her.

So Tsubaki concocted a plan that would make the King regret his slight.

* * *

"Why greetings your majesty," she sneered, "perhaps you did not realize that you had not invited an important guest to your celebration."

The King tried to rush forward to guard his daughter but Tsubaki froze him with her powers.

"Now, now, we wouldn't want you getting in the way of our fun now would we."

Midoriko's voice rang out from behind her, "Tsubaki what tricks are you up to this time, you know that you are not welcome here."

Tsubaki knew that her three former sisters would not chance a fight when among so many people who could become injured or possibly killed and so she carried on without a worry.

"Why sister you wound me, I am only here to give my blessing, and surely you will not deny me that?" Tsubaki questioned sweetly with a hint of venom.

With that said she turned towards the babe. "My blessing to you child is an end, for when you reach your fifteenth birthday you shall prick your finger on a spindle and die." With a crackle of laughter, she flung the glowing green curse at the princess and disappeared.

Everyone rushed to the bawling infant but none could prevent the curse from taking a hold of her.

The Queen held her baby girl to her bosom and wept, oh the sorrow to be granted a child only to have her fated to be taken away so early in life.

The King looked wildly at the Miko's standing in sorrow.

"Is there not anything you can do?" He cried out, "can you not do something to save our child?"

The miko's shared a meaningful look and Midoriko strode forward.

"Tsubaki is much too powerful for us to remove the curse; she was once our sister and therefore matches our power. However, as I have yet to give my blessing I can tweak the curse, for it has not completely settled yet."

And so Midoriko hurried to the baby and gave her blessing.

"I change the curse set upon you from death to sleep, when you prick your finger you shall succumb to a deathlike sleep that lasts the span of a century and yet brings no change till love's first kiss awakens you."

The princess glowed a soft purple, finally quit her wails and fell asleep.

However the royal couple was still worried.

"What shall we do, for surely if Tsubaki hears that the curse has been changed she will seek out another way to kill our daughter. How will we keep her safe?" They beseeched the priestesses.

Kaede hushed their worrying and stepped forward. "Do not fear for the child shall be safe, do not worry thy hearts over this. We miko's shall protect her till her fifteenth year."

And so with much sorrow, the King and Queen gave up their precious daughter to the three miko's in hope that they would see her again in the future.

* * *

Hidden in cloaks as dark as night the mikos made ready to depart. Midoriko looked down at the girl in her arms.

"Do not worry, we will raise her in a secret place where none shall know who she is, and when the time is right we shall return her to you."

The rulers nodded and the miko's turned to depart when suddenly Kikyo turned round to ask one more question. "I almost forgot, what is her name?"

The King and Queen looked at each other thoughtfully. "We had not picked one yet," the Queen stated, "we had hoped to name her at the end of the festivities. What do you think my dear?"

The King thought for a moment when a name came to mind. "Kagome, yes Kagome. We'll name her after my mother."

And with that the miko's turned and vanished into the night with the little princess Kagome.

* * *

A/N; this is my first attempt at a fanfiction story so I hope everyone likes it. I plan on this becoming a somewhat lengthy story but b/c I'm so busy it will probably take me a very long time to finish it.

Please review! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own InuYasha, though many times I wish I did.

* * *

~Five years later.

Small feet hurried through the forest as fast as the petite five year olds legs could carry her. Frequently glancing over her shoulder she stumbled but carried on, all the while trying to contain her mischievous giggles.

"Kagome!" Could be heard shouted from a distance, "Get back here, you need to do your lessons!"

This caused even more giggles to burst forth; Kagome could barely hold them in. Aunt Kiki was just so funny when she was annoyed.

Kagome could picture her aunt's face all screwed up as she yelled into the forest. She loved her aunts, but they always tried to keep her at the cottage, going over boring lessons that would soon lose the interest of the spirited young girl.

The woods were calling out to her to come and play. Kagome could not ignore such a sweet prospect and created a distraction that allowed her to sneak away.

She could hear her aunt crashing through the brush; more giggles came, for such a beautiful lady Aunt Kiki couldn't for the life of her navigate the woods quietly.

Kagome quieted her giggles, but soon it would not matter, for she was almost there.

Navigating through one last clump of bushes and she was there, at her secret spot.

* * *

A small spring stood at the center of the clearing; framed by trees it was the perfect secluded spot.

Near the water stood an old stone shrine dedicated to a water kami. Worn away by weather, the design could only faintly be seen. If Kagome squinted her eyes and looked real close she could almost see the features of the woman carved into it.

She had found the place by pure accident one day when she had been hiding from her lessons, a common occurrence.

Aunt Kiki was the only aunt that would fall for the distractions that allowed Kagome to slip away, and so on that day she was the one who was close to Kagome's trail.

Giving up to the fact that she would be caught, Kagome sat down in the clearing and waited for her aunt to emerge. But it never happened, she heard Aunt Kiki come to the very bushes that hid the clearing but then move on past them, deeper into the forest.

This greatly confused Kagome, for her aunts possessed an uncanny ability to find her. Even if she had left no trail, they would come straight to her, admonishing her for her escape into the woods. It was almost as if they had a little Kagome sensor built in that let them keep a tab on her at all times.

But the clearing seemed to negate that tab.

Unknown to Kagome, when she would be in the clearing her aura would be invisible; making it impossible for her aunt to find her by searching for it.

Little Kagome did not really care how she was kept hidden, except that she now had her secret place. Somewhere she could go and be alone.

Still, she routinely brought flowers to the stone shrine, just in case it was the deity that was helping her.

* * *

Skipping around and splashing in the water was an enjoyable pastime, but it soon lost its appeal to the young girl. After all there is only so long that a young one can entertain themselves.

The sun was shining, the trees rustling and the clearing was beautiful. But Kagome had seen it all before. She loved her special spot and the solace it gave her, but she desperately wished for someone that she could play with.

'I've got it' Kagome exclaimed as she jumped to her feet.

She raced to the wild flowers on the edge of her clearing and quickly picked the nicest bouquet a five year old could.

She skipped over to the Water Kami's shrine and laid it in offering.

'Oh please Kami-sama give me a friend. I don't care who they are just as long as they will play with me. I promise to bring you lots of pretty flowers every day if you could just get me a friend.'

The little girl was looking so pleadingly at the small shrine; her knees stained by the grass as she knelt with her hands clasped together. Her eyes scrunched shut as she prayed with all of her might that her wish would be granted.

Fortunately the Water Kami had been keeping an eye on the petit child; she felt gratitude to her for keeping the shrine dedicated to her so nice and in turn decided to aid her. She had watched Kagome playing in her waters many a time and felt that the lonely child deserved a playmate.

And she knew just the one for such a task. Many a Kami had been searching for an answer to the problem growing in the young Western prince. Kagome seemed to be just the girl to crack open his feelings.

Grinning, the Kami subtly directed the other presence in the forest to her banks, and sat back to watch.

* * *

Prince Sesshomaru stalked through the forest, easily keeping ahead of the bumbling retainer loudly stumbling after him.

'My Prince please come back to your lessons. Jaken pleads to you, come back or your father will be mad at Jaken'

The sniveling toad continuously tripped over branches, stones and even his own feet.

The young prince snickered under his breath as he heard the old toad fall in a particularly nasty bit of green slime. He would not even under torture admit to deliberately leading the ass-kissing toad to that slime hole, but if Jaken really wanted to get on Sesshomaru's good side then he would have to have some major attitude adjustments.

Still snickering as he heard the retainer retching at the stench now covering him, he continued through the forest.

He had escaped his extremely boring lessons, but could it really be called escape if you just walked out? But deciding that it was too nice of a summer day to be wasted indoors, he had ventured to the deep wooded area surrounding the Western Lords Summer residence.

Feeling drawn deeper in, he decided to trust his instincts and delved deep into the heart of the forest.

Slowly his senses began to pick up the sounds of soft breathing and a sure heartbeat. Sesshomaru did not need to even use his developing tracking senses to find where they came from as he was quickly drawn to the owner of them.

Starting to run, his deft nose caught a sent that had escaped him before, the soft sent of lavender. He felt a need to find the owner of this sent, for once the cynical young one did not question and just followed.

All of a sudden he burst through some bushes and was in a small clearing by a spring. He whipped his head around, searching out the owner of the now clear sent, he knew they were there.

It was then he saw the small body resting on the edge of the water.

Slowly he crept up, his eyes fixed upon the softly rising back. Kneeling down beside the petite body, he softly rolled whoever it was to their back.

It was ..a …human? Surely not, humans smell disgusting and were an ugly stupid race.

But this sweetly sleeping cherub was anything but disgusting. Sesshomaru could not think of a sweeter face.

Long, thick eyelashes brushed her skin. Dimples appeared as she giggled in her sleep. Silky midnight black hair flowed softly to her shoulders.

Sesshomaru sat in a trance as he watched the sleeping girl. Suddenly he shook his head as if to wake himself up.

_This is not how the heir to the Western throne acts, staring blankly at some mortal filth_. His father's voice rang inside his head, but Sesshomaru could still not take himself away from this enchanting child.

She only looked a bit younger than him, he would guess her to be around five years of age, and he was very good at estimating the ages of those around him.

His mind on his inner musings, Sesshomaru did not notice the signs of waking coming from the small girl in front of him. When a small yawn broke him from his thoughts.

Mystified, he could only stare as she blinked into awareness, her blue eyes capturing his golden ones.

'Wh-o are you?' her question was interrupted by another large yawn.

Shesshomaru had opened his mouth to answer when another exclamation came from the girl in front of him.

'Oh, they granted my wish, are you here to be my friend?' without waiting to hear his reply she talked on, 'I'm just so happy that you've finally come. We can play all the tim—oh-no, it's really late, Obasan is going to be so worried'

Without taking a break in talking, she jumped to her feet and began racing out of the clearing when she suddenly remembered her companion.

Sesshomaru sat in a state of shock, she was already showing herself to be entirely unlike any other girl he had ever meet.

'Come back here tomorrow so we can play' she sassily demanded, without meaning to Sesshomaru mutely nodded along.

Beginning to leave again, she stopped as if having another thought come to mind. Hesitantly turning around she now shyly questioned, 'You are here to be my friend right?' sounding almost as if she were afraid of his answer.

Trying to find his voice, Sesshomaru just managed to croak out a 'Yes'

A yip of 'yay' was heard and then the petit girl skipped out of the clearing heading in the opposite direction that where he had come from.

Still in shock at the whirlwind that had just occurred, Sesshomaru tried to place what had just happened. When he suddenly realized something…

…_She never told me her name. How did she manage to pull one past me, the Western Prince?_

* * *

Unknown to him, another pair of eyes watched him from the depths of the spring. Inwardly rejoicing at the beginning of this fated friendship.

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* * *

a/n: Hey, sorry it took me so long to update and that it is so short. I was in an accident shortly after posting the first chapter and unfortunately really messed up my knee. I was in a lot of pain for a long time and by the time I began to feel somewhat normal I was hit by an extremely bad case of the flu that almost sent me to the hospital.

On a better note, thank you to everyone who reviewed. I was so excited to receive them. I read them all but don't really have time to respond personally so I will just do it here.

Thank you,

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_Crying fires_

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_angelapage_

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_PurpleLuna_

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_Panchat_

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_Sesshomaru's Beautiful Kristin_

_.._

Thank you all for telling me how much you like my story so far. I hope this chapter meets expectations.

Please review again.


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